The Recipes

Earth Scrub Cleanser

Soft scrubbing cleanser that is good for sinks, tubs, even for pots and pans. Works quite well for ceramic cooktops, too. This is one of my favorite recipes! Very effective.
  • 2 Cups Baking Soda
  • 1/2 Cup Liquid Castile Soap or 1/3 Cup Dish Detergent (like Dawn)
  • 2/3 Cup Water
  • 2 Tbsp White Vinegar
Mix baking soda with liquid soap or detergent in a bowl. Add water and stir until lumps are gone. Add the vinegar last. Stir again. If you can put it into the container easily, then you have the right consistency. If it's too thick, add more water. Keep the cap or lid on, because this mixture will dry out. If it does dry out, just add a little water and stir it around.

Put it in a squirt bottle--dish detergent or ketchup bottles work very well. Also nice to keep in a jar next to your sink to dip your brush or sponge into.

Earth Shaker Cleanser

Use like you would a powder cleanser. I like to sprinkle some in the toilet and let it set for a while, then just swish with a toilet brush  and flush.
  • 1 Part Baking Soda
  • 1 Part Borax
  • Tea Tree Oil (about 10 drops per cup cleanser)
Mix all ingredients together. You can make this without the tea tree oil of you don't have any, but it does add some additional antibacterial properties, so it's nice to have.

Store in a shaker container--grated cheese containers work perfectly for this!

Wonder Spray

Use as you would any other all-purpose cleaner. Spray and wipe. Or pour a cup in a bucket of water to use on floors.
  • 2 Tbsp White Vinegar
  • 1 Tbsp Borax
  • 1/4 Cup Liquid Castile Soap (or 1/8 Cup Dish Detergent)
  • 10-15 Drops Essential Oil
Mix vinegar with borax in a squirt bottle. Add one cup of  very hot water. Shake until the borax is dissolved. (it's important to dissolve the borax in hot water so it doesn't clog the spray nozzle.) Add the liquid soap or detergent and another cup of hot water. To scent, add 10-15 drops of essential oil (lemon is very nice).
Lavish Laundry Soap
Use 1/2 cup per load in your washer. This recipe make enough for 320 loads! For stained or heavily sailed clothes, I add a little more soap, and then maybe 1/2 cup washing soda or borax as a booster.
  • Ingredients: 5-Gallon Bucket and a Half-Gallon Jug
  • 4 Cups Hot Tap Water
  • 1 Bar Fels-Naptha Soap
  • 1 Cup Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda
  • 1/2 Cup Borax
Grate bar of soap and add to saucepan with hot water. Stir continually over medium heat on stove until soap dissolves. Fill 5-gallon bucket half full of hot tap water. Add melted soap, washing soda and borax. Stir well until all powder is dissolved. Fill bucket to top with more hot tap water. Stir, cover and let sit overnight. It will thicken to a gel. At this point your have 5 gallons of concentrated laundry soap. you will add an equal amount of water to the soap when you put it in your container for everyday use.

Stir the soap to break up the gel. Fill clean container half-full with soap, and then fill the rest of the way with water.


Fabric Softener Substitute
Add 1 Cup White Vinegar to the rinse cycle. This is especially wonderful for towels and sheets! It really eliminates soap build up, and gives you wonderfully soft and absorbent towels and sheets.

I must confess that I still use commercial fabric softener for clothes that are prone to static cling. But I use nowhere near the amount recommended on the bottle! I fill a bottle with about 1 part softener to 10 parts of water, and use that to fill my dispenser. Works just fine.
Removing Stains
You can use your handy-dandy bar of Fels Naptha soap to pre-treat any stains. Or grab a 16-ounce spray bottle and whip up this recipe for a spray stain remover
  • 1/4 Cup Liquid Hand Dish Detergent (do not use liquid soap for this!)
  • 1/4 Cup Glycerin
  • 1/2 Cup Water
Spray and rub before laundering. Especially good for ink, marker, newsprint, coffee, tea, juice, jelly barbeque sauce and mustard.



Glass Gleam
The magic ingredient is the sodium citrate in the club soda, which softens the water and helps to clean. Dish detergent is a surfactant that breaks up the surface tension on really dirty windows.
  • 1 part Club Soda (flat soda works well)
  • 1 part Vinegar
  • (Optional) 1/8 tsp Dishwashing Detergent
  • (Optional) Essential Oil
  • 22 ounce spray bottle
Fill a spray bottle with 1/2 club soda and 1/2 vinegar. Add a few drops of dishwashing detergent for really dirty or outside windows.

I  have occasionally made this with all club soda, and it works pretty well, with the added benefit that you can spray it on your houseplants to clean the leaves. The plants love it! (Don't spray your houseplants with vinegar, though--unless you want to kill them!)
Foaming Carpet Cleaner
  • Blender
  • 1/4 Cup Liquid Soap or Detergent
  • 1/3 Cup Water
Put soap in blender with water. Blend until foamy. Smear the mixture on the carpet and let sit for a few minutes. Scrub with a scrub brush. Finish with a squirt of scented vinegar and blot up with soft cloth.
Toilet Bowl Cleaner
  • 1/2 Cup Borax
  • 20-30 Drops Tea Tree Oil
Pour borax straight from the box into your toilet bowl. Add tea tree oil. Hold toilet brush over the bowl and sprinkle on some more borax. Give the inside edges a good swish. Close the lid and leave the toilet overnight. In the morning, swish the bowl with toilet brush, and you are done!
Foaming Drain Cleaner
  • Baking Soda
  • Vinegar
Pour about 1/2 - 1 cup baking soda into the drain. Add a cup or more of vinegar. The mixture will fizz. Let it work for a few minutes for longer. The gas that is released by the chemical reaction of the vinegar and baking soda is harmless carbon dioxide. Finish by pouring very hot or boiling water down the drain. Repeat if necessary. Helps prevent clogged drains and may work on a mild clog. Never use this recipe of your have used a commercial drain cleaner!
Dust to Dust Furniture Cleaner

Not a polish, but it does facilitate dusting.
  • 16 ounce spray bottle
  • 1/4 Cup White Vinegar
  • 20 Drops Essential Lemon Oil
  • Water
Put olive oil in the bottle. Add essential lemon oil and vinegar. Fill rest of the bottle with water. Shake well.  For wood that is drying out from age or water exposure, add more olive oil to the recipe. Shake well before each use. Spray on your rag or directly onto furniture. Wipe dry immediately.  
Bug Be Gone Spray
For ants, dip cotton balls in peppermint oil and rub where you don't want the ants to come in.
  • Spray Bottle
  • Liquid Soap or Dish Detergent
  • Water
Fill the spray bottle almost to the top with water. Add 3 tbsp. soap or 1 tbsp. detergent. A peppermint-scented soap works best with this. Peppermint deters ants--the smell confuses the ants' noses from following their scent trails. To use, spray directly on ants or other crawling bugs, wait a few seconds and wipe them up. The soap dries them up. Also works for some flying insects. Try it out before resorting to poisons.